Today, dental and veterinary professionals use dental instruments commonly known as dental prophylaxis (prophy) angles attached to prophy cups for cleaning and polishing teeth. The prophy cup, which is filled with dental paste, is pressed against the tooth surfaces to clean and polish the teeth. Different prophy pastes can be used depending upon the dental health of the patient and amount of dental plaque and calculus that needs to be removed. For example, NUPRO® prophylaxis paste, available from Dentsply International (York, Pa.) can be used as the prophy paste, and this paste is available in different textures (fine, medium, and coarse) depending upon the size of the abrasive particles used in the paste. Fluoride-containing and fluoride-free prophy pastes are also available. A professional cleaning with prophy paste helps prevent dental caries caused by bacteria in dental plaque. Bacteria produce acids that eat into the tooth eventually causing cavities to form therein.
When the teeth are cleaned and polished by a dental or veterinary professional, the dental plaque can be effectively removed from the tooth surfaces of the patient. In addition, calculus build-up and extrinsic stains caused by beverages and food can also be effectively removed. The prophy angles are normally made from an inexpensive, flexible plastic and the prophy cup is made from a rubbery material. Many of the prophy angles available today are for single use and are disposed of after one-time use.
Conventional dental prophy angles are generally effective; however, they have some drawbacks. For example, conventional prophy angles and prophy cups when they are filled with dental paste and attached to the prophy angles are in a constant one-directional rotational motion during use, which causes excessive dental paste splatter when the prophy cup contacts the surface of the tooth. This splatter is not only messy but also can lead to misapplication of the dental paste to the tooth surface.
Conventional prophy angles operate at one speed instead of variable speeds, which also can lead to the excessive dental paste splatter. The prophy cup in a conventional prophy angle is a separate part of the prophy angle assembly and not directly attached to the driven shaft. Because of this design, relative rotational motion between the prophy cup and the driven shaft are associated with excessive heat generation, which causes the prophy angle to wear out during use or need replacement. Some conventional prophy angles have reduced oscillation angles due to the design of drive gear and driven gear, and orthogonal gear connection facilitates an uncomfortable wrist position for the dental or veterinary professional during use.
Therefore, there is a need in the dental and veterinary industry for a prophy angle which improves polishing efficiency by reducing the downtime caused by excessive heat during procedures, allows for variable operating speeds to cut down paste splatter, increases the oscillation angle, and utilizes a non-orthogonal gear to ergonomically correct the user's neutral wrist position to allow the user to operate the device with less strain on their hand.